Fleeing from Esav, Yaakov leaves Be'er Sheva and
sets out towards Charan, the home of his mother's family. After
a fourteen year stopover in the Yeshiva of Shem and Ever, he resumes
his journey and comes to Mount Moriah, the place where his father
Yitzchak was brought as an offering, and the future site of the
BeisHamikdash. He lays down to sleep and has a
prophetic dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder between
heaven and earth. Hashem promises him the Land of Israel, that
he will found a great nation and that he will be guarded by Divine
protection everywhere. Yaakov awakes and vows to build an altar
there and tithe all that he will receive. Then he travels to
Charan and meets his cousin Rachel at the well. He arranges with
her father, Lavan, to work seven years for her hand in marriage,
but Lavan deceives Yaakov and substitutes Rachel's elder sister,
Leah. Yaakov commits himself to work another seven years in order
to also marry Rachel. Leah bears him four sons - Reuven, Shimon,
Levi and Yehuda - the first Tribes of Israel. Rachel is jealous
that she cannot conceive, and gives her handmaiden Bilhah to Yaakov.
Bilhah bears Dan and Naftali. Leah also gives Yaakov her handmaiden
Zilpah, who bears Gad and Asher. Leah now gives birth to Yissachar,
Zevulun, and a daughter, Dina. Hashem finally blesses Rachel
with a son, Yosef. Yaakov decides to leave Lavan, but Lavan,
aware of the wealth Yaakov has made for him, is reluctant to let
him go, and concludes a contract of employment with him. Lavan
tries again to swindle Yaakov but is unsuccessful, and Yaakov
becomes extremely wealthy. Six years later, Yaakov, aware that
Lavan has become resentful of his wealth, takes advantage of his
father-in-law's temporary absence and flees with his family.
Lavan pursues them but is warned by Hashem not to harm them.
Yaakov and Lavan agree to a covenant and Lavan returns home.
Yaakov continues on his way to face his brother Esav.

"...And behold, a ladder was set earthward
and its top reached heavenward; and behold! angels of G-d were
ascending and descending on it." (28:12)

Mention the word angel and the picture of
an improbably non-aerodynamic, overly-plump baby with wings flying
around doing target practice with a bow and arrow will probably
float into your subconscious.

The word malach in Hebrew is very poorly
translated as angel. Really, there is no English word for malach.

A malach is an incorporeal spiritual messenger.
If this is so, why do angels need a ladder? Presumably they
can reach their destination without recourse to such worldly apparatus.

Yaakov is the third of the Patriarchs. Avraham,
the first, represents chessed, kindness, going out to people,
expansiveness, the emotional way. His son, Yitzchak, represents
din, self-control, intellectual analysis, judgment. Yaakov
is the ladder between the two. Yaakov is the synthesis.

Yaakov shows that there need be no contradiction
between the head and the heart. Yaakov is the ladder set earthward,
with its top reaching to the heavens. On that ladder, that perfect
connection between the head and the heart, angels can travel to
their appointed destination.

TOP CAT

"And Yaakov departed from Be'er Sheva..."
(28:10)

It must be great to be a cat. There's so much food
around. Every dumpster and garbage can must seem like the Ritz.
There's no difference between that smell and the smell of a freshly
fried steak. The fact that your meal has just left someone else's
plate doesn't bother you at all. Of course, the disadvantage
is - you have to be a cat.

Personally, even though my gastronomic opportunities
are more limited, I'd rather be a human being.

When we develop a closer relationship with G-d,
we develop a sensitivity to the world around us. Song lyrics
on the radio which we used to hum, suddenly seem coarse and offensive.
Billboards which we never even noticed, now seem incredibly indecent.
Our eyes and ears have been opened. Now we smell the difference
between garbage and steak.

Rashi tells us that the Torah chose the word "depart"
rather than just "go" to tell us that the departure
of a righteous person makes an impression. When a righteous person
is in town, he illuminates it with his presence. When he leaves,
his lack is felt.

The question arises, why didn't the Torah also use
the verb "depart" when Avraham left his birthplace?
Surely, when Avraham left Charan, there was the same lack as
when Yaakov left Be'er Sheva?

When Avraham left Charan, all he left was a city
of idol worshippers, people whose spiritual sensitivity was about
the level of a cat. They never perceived Avraham's spiritual
stature when he dwelled amongst them, and thus his departure went
unnoticed. When Yaakov left Be'ersheva, however, he left behind
his parents, Yitzchak and Rivka. It was upon these spiritual
giants that his departure made an impression. Yitzchak and Rivka
were sensitive to the barometric difference that Yaakov's departure
caused. The people of Charan, however, couldn't tell the difference
between garbage and steak.

LAUNCH PAD TO THE STARS

"...And behold, a ladder was set earthward
and its top reached heavenward; and behold! angels of G-d were
ascending and descending on it. And behold! Hashem was standing
over him..." (28:12)

The gematria (numerical equivalent) of the
word sulam (ladder) is the same as (Mount) Sinai -
130. This is so because Mount Sinai is the ladder that
connects the physical and the spiritual. G-d "stood"
at the top of the ladder that Yaakov saw in his dream, just as
G-d "stood" at the top of the mountain when the Torah
was given. The angels going up and down parallel Moshe and Aharon
who brought the Torah down to this world.

There is only one ladder out of this world. Only
one way to reach the stars. The launch pad is called Sinai.
The spaceship is called the Torah.

TALKING STONES

"And he took from the stones of the place,
and he placed them around his head, and he lay down in that place."
(28:11)

The Midrash tells us that the twelve stones all wanted
the merit of being the stone on which the great tzaddik,
Yaakov, would lay his head.

A few verses later (verse 18), the Torah talks of
one stone, implying that the stones had subsequently all become
one. What is the significance of the stones being transformed
into one?

The twelve stones represent the twelve tribes of
Israel. The argument between the stones was about which tribe
was the essence of the Jewish People.

Was it Levi and the priesthood that were to serve
in the Holy Temple? Or was it Yissachar who would study Torah?
Or was it Zevulun who through his business acumen would support
Yissachar so that he could study the Torah?

Each of the stones claimed that it was the
essence of the Jewish People, until Hashem took them all and made
them into one. For no one part of the Jewish People is its essence.
Rather the essence of Israel is unity, for only in unity can
we fulfill our purpose: To reflect the Oneness of the Creator
who unites everything into One.

ULTIMATE NAME-DROPPING

"It is in my power to do you all harm;
but the G-d of your father addressed me last night, saying, 'Beware
of speaking with Yaakov either good or bad.' " (31:29)

If Lavan was trying to frighten Yaakov by telling
him "It is in my power to do you all harm..."
why does he then destroy his credibility by admitting that Hashem
Himself told him to "beware of speaking with Yaakov either
good or bad?"

Such is the way of those who lust for status. They
are quite prepared to trip themselves up just to "drop"
an important name. And Lavan could not resist the ultimate name-dropping
- telling Yaakov that Hashem had spoken to him - even though it
would completely enfeeble his threats.

Hoshea 11:7 - 14:10

"You corrupted yourself, Israel, for your
help is only through Me."(13:9)

A great king once asked one of the Sages of Israel
why it was that at the time of the destruction of the Beis
Hamikdash so many thousand of Jews were slain.

The Sage replied that the Jewish People had always
put their trust in Hashem saving them, and He had always had protected
them. They had never concerned themselves with the strategies
of war, rather they had always poured out their hearts in prayer
and offerings.

Therefore, when the Jewish People sinned, and consequently
lost Hashem's protection, they were left bereft of any defense
at all. They fell before their enemies like the standing crop
before the scythe, like lambs abandoned by their shepherd, torn
by the teeth of wolves.

The Jewish People are the lamb amongst the 70 wolves.
The lamb is not protected by F-16s or the military might of any
world-power, however broad its shoulders may be. The Jewish People
have only one Friend. But He is the only Friend we need.

(Based on Ahavas Yehonason in Mayana shel Torah)

Selections from classical Torah sources
which express the special relationship between
the People of Israel and Eretz Yisrael

BEIT EL

"He called that place Beit El, but its
original name was Luz." (Bereishis 28:19)

Beit El - Luz, where Yaakov had his prophetic dream
of a ladder reaching to Heaven, reappears in the Biblical account
(Shoftim 1:23) of the tribe of Yosef conquering the city. The
entrance to this city was perfectly concealed. A giant luz tree
stood in front of a cave which served as the entrance, and only
the city's inhabitants were aware that the tree was hollow and
could be walked through. The Hebrew scouts waited until someone
exited, and induced him to reveal the entrance by promising him
protection from the war they were about to wage against his town.

They thus succeeded in invading and conquering the
city, and allowed their guide and his family to safely leave.
He went to the Hittite area of the land and established a city
which he named Luz. The new Luz was where the techeiles dye for
tzitzis was pressed, and its secret location made it invulnerable
to the invasions of foreign kings who exiled the inhabitants of
all the other cities. The kindness the guide had shown the Hebrews
by just pointing his finger towards the entrance received its
ultimate reward in the city's invulnerability to death itself.
When its aged inhabitants grew weary of life, they went outside
the walls of the city to die.

The modern Jewish settlement of Beit El, established
after the Six-Day War on the approximate site of the ancient city,
is fifteen minutes north of Jerusalem and near the Arab city of
Ramallah.